NSF Award
0128460
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will eliminate coking in ethylene furnaces and dusting in steam reformers. Ethylene and hydrogen, two very important feedstocks, are produced by processing hydrocarbon feed streams at high temperatures. Unfortunately, when hydrocarbons come into contact with iron and nickel (major components of steel) at high temperature, reactions can occur which cause coking in ethylene production and formation of metal oxide particulate (dusting) in hydrogen production by steam reforming. The lost time required to decoke ethylene crackers and the removal of metal oxide particulate from steam reformers are costly. Although pyrolysis and steam reforming are carried out under different conditions, the initial steps in coking and dusting are identical, the formation of iron and nickel carbides. In this project, additives will be developed that bind strongly to iron and nickel on the steel surface, eliminating the formation of these metal carbides.<br/><br/>Additives that reduce coke in ethylene crackers and eliminate dusting in steam reforming would find immediate application in both ethylene and hydrogen production industries. These problems are significant sources of cost to each of the industries and their elimination would result in measurable reductions in price for both ethylene and hydrogen.
